Last season in the Verizon IndyCar Series, Charlie Kimball didn’t have the season that he was particularly looking for in only posting one podium (third at Belle Isle) to finish 14th in points. It marks a considerable drop for the California native following a victory and a ninth place finish in points for the 2013 season.
Kimball has strong driver on the street courses, and that shined through last year with only four finishes outside of the top 18 in the 12 road/street course events. In contrast, the ovals only brought Kimball a pair of top-10 finishes.
There was the factor that Chip Ganassi Racing as an organization struggled through the first half of the season with Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe and Tony Kanaan each failing to reach victory lane. Though while the team improved and Dixon was able to finish in the top-five at the end of the year, the same couldn’t be said for Kimball.
Now heading into 2015, Kimball will be looking to turn things around, and the signs are point in a positive direction.
With CGR able to get the whole team performance back up to par during the second half of the year, the focus can now be put on finding the weaknesses in the No. 83 Novo Nordisk team and fixing those to better the performance as a whole. There’s also a new aero package set to debut this year, and with CGR being one of the teams on top of finding advantages, it is very well possible that they can find the magic piece of the puzzle to bring success this year.
Kimball has proven that he can get it done on the road and street courses if the equipment is there. On the ovals, though, he will need to seek continuing to improve as a driver as he enters his fifth year of Verizon IndyCar Series Competition if he wants to be further up in the standings.
During the off-season, Kimball signed a new multi-year contract with Chip Ganassi Racing and Nova Nordisk. With the promotions of diabetes awareness going well off the track, it’d be a fitting match if they could find the success on the track this year.
“I am really excited to continue to be a part of this great partnership with Novo Nordisk and Chip Ganassi Racing,” Kimball commented in December. “The relationships we’ve built over the past four years, both on and off the track, are only getting stronger as I enter my fifth Verizon IndyCar Series season. From the guys at the shop prepping the car each and every week, to those within Novo Nordisk working on the Race With Insulin program, it’s truly a team effort. We’ll be working as hard as ever to take the No. 83 car back to victory lane in 2015 and beyond!”
